


Spill Drinks And Be Merry

by Lokisgame, muldersboyishenthousiasm



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Birthday Fluff, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Post-Episode: s02e08 One Breath, X-Files OctoberFicFest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-16 23:24:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12352683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokisgame/pseuds/Lokisgame, https://archiveofourown.org/users/muldersboyishenthousiasm/pseuds/muldersboyishenthousiasm
Summary: “Melissa is leaving town tomorrow and she was wondering... We were wondering if you’d join us for drinks tonight. Nothing fancy, it’s just that we didn’t have a chance to celebrate properly”





	Spill Drinks And Be Merry

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to muldersboyishenthousiasm for brainstorming this fic with me.

_“Mulder, it’s me,”_ the answering machine spoke in Scully’s voice and he was on high alert instantly. _“Melissa is leaving town tomorrow and she was wondering,”_ a hiss followed by a whisper made him smile slightly, was that a giggle?  
_“We,”_ Scully corrected herself, _“were wondering if you’d join us for drinks tonight. Nothing fancy, it’s just that we didn’t have a chance to celebrate properly and”_  
The answering machine cut her off and seeing there was no more new messages, he called her right back.  
“Scully?” There it was, that giggle again, must be Melissa, Scully never giggled.  
“Oh, hi, I was just about to call you,” she sounded flustered and it was adorable.  
“I got your message, count me in, just tell me when and where.”  
“7pm, the place where we met about the Budahas case?”  
“Sure, great, I’ll see you then.”  
“Okay,” he thought she’d hang up, but she surprised him with more questions, “what were you working on last night?”  
“Nothing,” he said pointedly, “you’re still on sick-leave, get well first, then we’ll talk shop.”  
“Fine, whatever,” her dismissive tone made them both laugh, “I’ll see you tonight.”  
“I’ll be there,” Mulder assured her and they hung up as usual, without saying goodbye. 

A Saturday wasn’t exactly a business day at the Hoover Building, so he could get away with casual clothes, sports jacket and jeans, with simple tie and a button down shirt.  
Still, there was no rest for the wicked and crime labs worked as usual. He wanted to talk about tests he ordered the night before, but with Scully still on leave, he had to do it with the lab staff personally. Mulder knew how impatient she was to prove herself ready to get back in the saddle, but his goal was to keep her away from work as long as possible. He wanted her back, sooner rather than later, but not as much as he wanted her back to full health.  
Around lunch, Mulder parked the car in his usual spot on the lowest level of the FBI headquarters parking lot and headed for the crime labs. Before he knew it, the sun went down.  
“What time is it?”  
A young agent in pristine white lab coat, who walked him through the analysis of a fiber sample, now resting under a microscope, replied, “Almost 7pm.”  
“Shit, why didn’t you tell me, don’t you have someplace to be?” Mulder panicked and turned into a White Rabbit from Alice, running around lab, gathering notes like mad.  
“No, not really,” the kid watched him a little curious.  
“Geez, man, you should get a life or something,” Mulder smiled and shrugged into his jacket.  
“Like you have one,” the younger man challenged, wondering if the secretarial pools’ daydreams about Spooky Mulder were true.  
“Tonight I do,” one foot out the door he instructed, “send your conclusions to my office, I’ll get back to you on Monday.”  
“Sure, whatever you say Agent Mulder.”  
“And Pendrell, I mean it, life’s too short to spend Saturday nights locked up in here.”  
The door banged shut, glass ringing on edge of breaking, and Pendrell sighed heavily. “Like you’d know what it’s like to be lonely.”

Mulder managed to get to the pub within the boundaries of fashionably late and, looking over the crowd, spotted two redheads picking their martinis of the waitresses’ tray and made his way to their table.  
“Good evening,” he raised his voice over the noise of the crowd, hand automatically finding it’s place on the small of Scully’s back. Her attention caught but not startled, she looked up and lit up from the inside.  
Something in Dana’s eyes changed when they shared each other’s space, Melissa noted. They looked so comfortable around each other that she thought they'd kiss hello, then and there, but they didn’t. Mulder took the third bar stool and called back the waitress before she ran away, ordering whiskey and a beer.  
“So we’re celebrating what? Exactly,” Scully asked her sister who was essentially responsible for this meeting.  
“Your miraculous awakening, family and friendship,” she said saluting both of them cheerfully, and making Mulder shrug as if it was as good a reason as any. Scully smiled a wicked smile, leaping at the chance to take some of the focus of herself.  
“In that case, we should drink to your birthday as well!” She declared, looking at Mulder.  
“My birthday was a month ago,” he protested, trying not to think about how he got drunk on Jack Daniel's and guilt, and had to call in sick the next day.  
“I know, but I missed it and from now on I don’t wanna miss a thing,” she explained and raised her glass, daring him to stop her. The girl came back with his drink.  
“Who am I to say no to that,” Mulder raised his hand with theirs.  
“To new beginnings!” Melissa announced and the glasses clinked.  
“Now, just so we’re clear,” Missy looked between Mulder and Scully, “what is it that the two of you do, exactly?”

An hour later, she was as clueless as ever, but felt more entertained than she could ever remember. Mulder was half way through a story about a couple of kids they met at an air force base, hunting UFO’s and running from black helicopters.  
“It was an experimental plane Mulder,” Scully argued.  
“You were there Scully, you saw the lights, no plane could move like that,” he laughed and emptied his beer, glancing at it surprised. “Another round?”  
“Sure,” Missy smiled watching them bicker.  
“I don’t know what I saw.” Scully tried to defend herself, but he only half listened, trying to catch the waitress's eye and order. Missy noticed, that the girl had an eye on him the whole evening; a fact that, to her amusement, escaped him completely. He signaled for another round of the same and turned back to them and his story.  
“Is it just me or is it getting warm in here?”   
Seeing him shrug out of his jacket and loosen the tie, Melissa wondered how Dana could work around this guy. He was seriously hot.  
“It’s the alcohol,” Scully smiled, picking the last olive from her drink.  
“Where was I?”  
“Bright lights,” Missy supplied.  
“Right, so, there were these bright lights, moving around the sky like crazy.”  
He was talking with his hands now, and before the girls had time to warn him, two vodka martinis were flying through the air in wide arches. Bitter-sweet liquid splashing over the front of his shirt, making him jump back and freeze in place, looking down at himself, bewildered.  
“Oh dear.” Scully covered her eyes, not sure if she’d be able to control her laugh, and Missy watched wide eyed, as the waitress snapped out of her embarrassment and started to apologize.  
“I’m so sorry, Sir,” she wiped the table as quickly as possible, picking up broken glass and spilled olives. A small crowd congealed around them, ready for action. Mulder kept looking at his shirt, dangerously silent, until he burst out... laughing. He laughed uncontrollably for a long minute while the girls watched him, as confused as everyone else.  
“It’s okay, really,” he gasped, wiping his eyes, “It’s my fault.”  
Scully looked at him, giggling under her breath, and when their eyes met, they both laughed.  
“I’ll bring you fresh drinks right now, on the house of course,” the girl ran from the madman, before his good humor turned into something else.  
“Thank you,” Scully called after her and looked back at Mulder. “You’re a mess.”  
“I can see that,” he grinned and shook his head, “excuse me.” 

He went for the restrooms and both sisters sat back at the cleaned up table. Missy couldn’t believe what she saw.  
“Dana, who is this guy?”  
“What do you mean?” Scully picked up and folded his jacket, hanging it over the back of his chair.  
“I saw him when you were unconscious, it’s like he’s a completely different person.”  
“Oh, that,” she smiled and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, a nervous gesture Missy knew since they were little girls.  
“Yes, that,” she leaned closer and whispered suggestively. “Are you and him?”  
“What? NO!”  
Dana’s response was fast, but not fast enough, Missy knew her better than that. Even if she didn’t realize it, her little sister was on a fast track to falling for her partner. Just as it was clear, that it was already too late for him.  
“Well, I’m not so sure if he’d be as against it as you are.” The challenge was clear, but before Scully could deny again, Mulder came back, and both women lost their ability to speak for a moment.  
He skipped trying to save the shirt and got rid of it, leaving only a tight fitting, white short sleeved undershirt, untucked over the leather belt on his jeans. He looked like he just stepped out of a cover of a magazine.  
“Sorry,” he seemed a little unsure when he sat at the table, “the shirt was beyond saving.”  
Missy gathered her thoughts first. “No, it’s okay, you just need...”  
She reached out and unceremoniously ruffled Mulder’s hair, using her fingers to comb through them, this way and that. Scully watched her with astonishment that quickly turned into amusement, when he closed his eyes and smiled sheepishly, blushing like a boy caught by one of his favorite cousins or aunts.  
“There, much better.” Melissa looked pleased. Against all odds, he looked even better, a controlled mess. She smiled, glancing at the girls checking him out, clearly interested, but God bless his soul, he didn’t notice even a single one of them.  
“Thanks,” he finally straightened and on cue, the waitress came back with fresh drinks. Mulder theatrically sat on his hands and all three girls laughed with him. 

Two rounds later, Cindy Lauper wanted to have fun and so did Mulder.  
“Come on Scully,” he grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet, “time for payback. You say it’s my birthday, so I want you to dance with me.”  
Missy was already gone, swept away by some tall-dark-skinned-and-handsome Jamaican-artist-type, and having no one to turn to, Scully followed her characteristically over-eager partner.  
He wasn’t the best dancer since Fred Astaire, but he didn’t step on her toes and moved with delightfully easy grace. She laughed as she twirled holding his hand, and when he spun her out the length of his arm, just to draw her right back in, with a flair that would pull baby out of her corner, no questions asked. She saw a whole new side to him and he to her, a side he hoped to see more often.  
The cheerful anthem faded and a calm, almost sad guitar caught them with arms locked around each other. Driving for hours through towns and villages, they both knew the song well. 

_When the day is long, and the nights, the night is yours alone._  
_And sure you had enough, of this life, hang on._

She tried to take a step back but Mulder stopped her. “Wait, one more.”  
The gentle weight of his arm around her waist and a pleading look in his eyes, made her rest one hand on his shoulder, and give in to the warmth and solid reassurance of his arms.  
“Thank you,” he whispered leaning down so that she could hear him, “for the late birthday.”  
“You did nothing when I was gone?” His incredulous half-laugh broke her heart.  
He let go of her hand and wrapped both arms around her waist.  
“I couldn’t do anything when you were gone.”  
Was it the alcohol or the song, he didn’t care, she was here and he held on.

 _Don’t throw your hand,_  
_If you feel like you’re alone_  
_No, no, no, you’re not alone_

“Missy told me, some of it.” Scully draped her arms over his shoulders. “Mom said, you kept looking for me.”  
“I almost,” he wanted to say he choked Duane Barry, but stopped himself.  
“It was bad Scully. They already shut down the X-files and,” his voice broke and she knew it was more than just the alcohol, “I thought I lost you.” He finished slowly, steadily, though she could feel his breath shaking.  
“I’m here Mulder,” she reassured him, lips by his ear as they moved in a small circle, “I’m here.”  
He held on, as if someone could snatch her from the very spot, in that very moment.  
“I won’t let something like this happen to you, ever again,” he promised. 

The world around them got lost in music, and all that was left was gratitude. Acceptance, that they were more than just simple partners and friends. Even if they ever drifted apart, this moment of realization forged a quiet and unbreakable pact between them.

**Author's Note:**

> Part of Leiascully’s October Fic Fest  
> Happy B-Day Mulder, we’ll love you forever and a day.  
> Songs:  
> Cindy Lauper “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”  
> R.E.M. “Everybody Hurts”


End file.
